Method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving a timing correction message in a wireless communication system

ABSTRACT

A method for transmitting a timing correction message in a wireless communication system, the method comprising, Generating the timing correction message comprising a 8-bit MessageID field and a 2-bit NumSectors field wherein, the NumSectors field indicates the number of sector records in the message and a 16 bit TimingCorrection field wherein, the TimingCorrection indicates the timing correction on the sector and last 15 bits indicate the magnitude of timing correction in units of ⅛ chips and transmitting the timing correction message over a communication link.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY UNDER 35 U.S.C. §119

The present Application for patent claims priority to ProvisionalApplication Ser. No. 60/731,128, entitled “WIRELESS COMMUNICATION”,filed Oct. 27, 2005, assigned to the assignee hereof, and expresslyincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The present disclosure relates generally to a wireless communicationsystem, more particularly to methods and apparatus for transmitting andreceiving a timing correction message.

2. Background

Wireless communication systems have become a prevalent means by which amajority of people worldwide have come to communicate. Wirelesscommunication devices have become smaller and more powerful in order tomeet consumer needs and to improve portability and convenience. Theincrease in processing power in mobile devices such as cellulartelephones has lead to an increase in demands on wireless networktransmission systems. Such systems typically are not as easily updatedas the cellular devices that communicate there over. As mobile devicecapabilities expand, it can be difficult to maintain an older wirelessnetwork system in a manner that facilitates fully exploiting new andimproved wireless device capabilities.

Wireless communication systems generally utilize different approaches togenerate transmission resources in the form of channels. These systemsmay be code division multiplexing (CDM) systems, frequency divisionmultiplexing (FDM) systems, and time division multiplexing (TDM)systems. One commonly utilized variant of FDM is orthogonal frequencydivision multiplexing (OFDM) that effectively partitions the overallsystem bandwidth into multiple orthogonal subcarriers. These subcarriersmay also be referred to as tones, bins, and frequency channels. Eachsubcarrier can be modulated with data. With time division basedtechniques, each subcarrier can comprise a portion of sequential timeslices or time slots. Each user may be provided with a one or more timeslot and subcarrier combinations for transmitting and receivinginformation in a defined burst period or frame. The hopping schemes maygenerally be a symbol rate hopping scheme or a block hopping scheme.

Code division based techniques typically transmit data over a number offrequencies available at any time in a range. In general, data isdigitized and spread over available bandwidth, wherein multiple userscan be overlaid on the channel and respective users can be assigned aunique sequence code. Users can transmit in the same wide-band chunk ofspectrum, wherein each user's signal is spread over the entire bandwidthby its respective unique spreading code. This technique can provide forsharing, wherein one or more users can concurrently transmit andreceive. Such sharing can be achieved through spread spectrum digitalmodulation, wherein a user's stream of bits is encoded and spread acrossa very wide channel in a pseudo-random fashion. The receiver is designedto recognize the associated unique sequence code and undo therandomization in order to collect the bits for a particular user in acoherent manner.

A typical wireless communication network (e.g., employing frequency,time, and/or code division techniques) includes one or more basestations that provide a coverage area and one or more mobile (e.g.,wireless) terminals that can transmit and receive data within thecoverage area. A typical base station can simultaneously transmitmultiple data streams for broadcast, multicast, and/or unicast services,wherein a data stream is a stream of data that can be of independentreception interest to a mobile terminal. A mobile terminal within thecoverage area of that base station can be interested in receiving one,more than one or all the data streams transmitted from the base station.Likewise, a mobile terminal can transmit data to the base station oranother mobile terminal. In these systems the bandwidth and other systemresources are assigned utilizing a scheduler.

The signals, signal formats, signal exchanges, methods, processes, andtechniques disclosed herein provide several advantages over knownapproaches. These include, for example, reduced signaling overhead,improved system throughput, increased signaling flexibility, reducedinformation processing, reduced transmission bandwidth, reduced bitprocessing, increased robustness, improved efficiency, and reducedtransmission power.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects inorder to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary isnot an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intendedto neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects nordelineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is topresent some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as aprelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

According to an aspect, a method is provided for transmitting timingcorrection message comprising generating the timing correction messagecomprising a 8-bit MessageID field and a 2-bit NumSectors field wherein,the NumSectors field indicates the number of sector records in themessage and a 16 bit TimingCorrection field wherein, theTimingCorrection indicates the timing correction on the sector and last15 bits indicate the magnitude of timing correction in units of ⅛ chipsand transmitting the timing correction message over a communicationlink.

According to another aspect, a computer-readable medium is describedhaving a first set of instructions for generating the timing correctionmessage comprising a 8-bit MessageID field and a 2-bit NumSectors fieldwherein, the NumSectors field indicates the number of sector records inthe message and a 16 bit TimingCorrection field wherein, theTimingCorrection indicates the timing correction on the sector and last15 bits indicate the magnitude of timing correction in units of ⅛ chipsand a second set of instructions for transmitting the timing correctionmessage over a communication link.

According to yet another aspect, a signal is described which comprises afirst portion comprising a 8-bit MessageID field, a second portioncomprising a 8-bit NumSectors field wherein the NumSectors fieldindicates the number of sector records in the message, a third portioncomprising a 16 bit TimingCorrection field wherein, the TimingCorrectionindicates the timing correction on the sector and last 15 bits indicatethe magnitude of timing correction in units of ⅛ chips.

According to yet another aspect, an apparatus operable in a wirelesscommunication system is described which comprises means for generatingthe timing correction message comprising a 8-bit MessageID field and a2-bit NumSectors field wherein, the NumSectors field indicates thenumber of sector records in the message and a 16 bit TimingCorrectionfield wherein, the TimingCorrection indicates the timing correction onthe sector and last 15 bits indicate the magnitude of timing correctionin units of ⅛ chips and means for transmitting the timing correctionmessage over a communication link.

According to yet another aspect, an apparatus is described whichcomprises a processor configured to generate the timing correctionmessage comprising a 8-bit MessageID field and a 2-bit NumSectors fieldwherein, the NumSectors field indicates the number of sector records inthe message and a 16 bit TimingCorrection field wherein, theTimingCorrection indicates the timing correction on the sector and last15 bits indicate the magnitude of timing correction in units of ⅛ chipsand the processor further configured to transmit the timing correctionmessage over a communication link.

According to yet another aspect, a method is provided for receiving thetiming correction message comprising a 8-bit MessageID field and a 2-bitNumSectors field wherein, the NumSectors field indicates the number ofsector records in the message and a 16 bit TimingCorrection fieldwherein, the TimingCorrection indicates the timing correction on thesector and last 15 bits indicate the magnitude of timing correction inunits of ⅛ chips and processing the timing correction message.

According to yet another aspect, a computer-readable medium is describedhaving a first set of instructions for receiving a timing correctionmessage comprising a 8-bit MessageID field and a 2-bit NumSectors fieldwherein, the NumSectors field indicates the number of sector records inthe message and a 16 bit TimingCorrection field wherein, theTimingCorrection indicates the timing correction on the sector and last15 bits indicate the magnitude of timing correction in units of ⅛ chipsand a second set of instructions for processing the TokenAssignmentmessage.

According to yet another aspect, an apparatus operable in a wirelesscommunication system is described which comprises means for receiving atiming correction message comprising a 8-bit MessageID field and a 2-bitNumSectors field wherein, the NumSectors field indicates the number ofsector records in the message and a 16 bit TimingCorrection fieldwherein, the TimingCorrection indicates the timing correction on thesector and last 15 bits indicate the magnitude of timing correction inunits of ⅛ chips; and means for processing the timing correctionmessage.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or moreaspects comprise the features hereinafter fully described andparticularly pointed out in the claims. The following description andthe annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative aspects ofthe one or more aspects. These aspects are indicative, however, of but afew of the various ways in which the principles of various aspects maybe employed and the described aspects are intended to include all suchaspects and their equivalents.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates aspects of a multiple access wireless communicationsystem.

FIG. 2 illustrates aspects of a transmitter and receiver in a multipleaccess wireless communication system.

FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate aspects of superframe structures for amultiple access wireless communication system.

FIG. 4 illustrates aspect of a communication between an access terminaland an access network.

FIG. 5A illustrates a flow diagram of a process by an access network.

FIG. 5B illustrates one or more processors configured for transmittingthe timing correction message.

FIG. 6A illustrates a flow diagram of a process by an access terminal.

FIG. 6B illustrates one or more processors configured for receiving thetiming correction message.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various aspects are now described with reference to the drawings,wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elementsthroughout. In the following description, for purposes of explanation,numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of one or more aspects. It may be evident, however, thatsuch aspect(s) may be practiced without these specific details. In otherinstances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagramform in order to facilitate describing one or more aspects.

Referring to FIG. 1, a multiple access wireless communication systemaccording to one aspect is illustrated. A multiple access wirelesscommunication system 100 includes multiple cells, e.g. cells 102, 104,and 106. In the aspect of FIG. 1, each cell 102, 104, and 106 mayinclude an access point 150 that includes multiple sectors. The multiplesectors are formed by groups of antennas each responsible forcommunication with access terminals in a portion of the cell. In cell102, antenna groups 112, 114, and 116 each correspond to a differentsector. In cell 104, antenna groups 118, 120, and 122 each correspond toa different sector. In cell 106, antenna groups 124, 126, and 128 eachcorrespond to a different sector.

Each cell includes several access terminals which are in communicationwith one or more sectors of each access point. For example, accessterminals 130 and 132 are in communication base 142, access terminals134 and 136 are in communication with access point 144, and accessterminals 138 and 140 are in communication with access point 146.

Controller 130 is coupled to each of the cells 102, 104, and 106.Controller 130 may contain one or more connections to multiple networks,e.g. the Internet, other packet based networks, or circuit switchedvoice networks that provide information to, and from, the accessterminals in communication with the cells of the multiple accesswireless communication system 100. The controller 130 includes, or iscoupled with, a scheduler that schedules transmission from and to accessterminals. In other aspects, the scheduler may reside in each individualcell, each sector of a cell, or a combination thereof.

As used herein, an access point may be a fixed station used forcommunicating with the terminals and may also be referred to as, andinclude some or all the functionality of, a base station, a Node B, orsome other terminology. An access terminal may also be referred to as,and include some or all the functionality of, a user equipment (UE), awireless communication device, terminal, a mobile station or some otherterminology.

It should be noted that while FIG. 1, depicts physical sectors, i.e.having different antenna groups for different sectors, other approachesmay be utilized. For example, utilizing multiple fixed “beams” that eachcover different areas of the cell in frequency space may be utilized inlieu of, or in combination with physical sectors. Such an approach isdepicted and disclosed in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/260,895, entitled “Adaptive Sectorization in Cellular System.”

Referring to FIG. 2, a block diagram of an aspect of a transmittersystem 210 and a receiver system 250 in a MIMO system 200 isillustrated. At transmitter system 210, traffic data for a number ofdata streams is provided from a data source 212 to transmit (TX) dataprocessor 214. In an aspect, each data stream is transmitted over arespective transmit antenna TX data processor 214 formats, codes, andinterleaves the traffic data for each data stream based on a particularcoding scheme selected for that data stream to provide coded data.

The coded data for each data stream may be multiplexed with pilot datausing OFDM, or other orthogonalization or non-orthogonalizationtechniques. The pilot data is typically a known data pattern that isprocessed in a known manner and may be used at the receiver system toestimate the channel response. The multiplexed pilot and coded data foreach data stream is then modulated (i.e., symbol mapped) based on one ormore particular modulation schemes (e.g., BPSK, QSPK, M-PSK, or M-QAM)selected for that data stream to provide modulation symbols. The datarate, coding, and modulation for each data stream may be determined byinstructions performed on provided by processor 230.

The modulation symbols for all data streams are then provided to a TXprocessor 220, which may further process the modulation symbols (e.g.,for OFDM). TX processor 220 then provides N_(T) modulation symbolstreams to N_(T) transmitters (TMTR) 222 a through 222 t. Eachtransmitter 222 receives and processes a respective symbol stream toprovide one or more analog signals, and further conditions (e.g.,amplifies, filters, and upconverts) the analog signals to provide amodulated signal suitable for transmission over the MIMO channel. N_(T)modulated signals from transmitters 222 a through 222 t are thentransmitted from N_(T) antennas 224 a through 224 t, respectively.

At receiver system 250, the transmitted modulated signals are receivedby N_(R) antennas 252 a through 252 r and the received signal from eachantenna 252 is provided to a respective receiver (RCVR) 254. Eachreceiver 254 conditions (e.g., filters, amplifies, and downconverts) arespective received signal, digitizes the conditioned signal to providesamples, and further processes the samples to provide a corresponding“received” symbol stream.

An RX data processor 260 then receives and processes the N_(R) receivedsymbol streams from N_(R) receivers 254 based on a particular receiverprocessing technique to provide N_(T) “detected” symbol streams. Theprocessing by RX data processor 260 is described in further detailbelow. Each detected symbol stream includes symbols that are estimatesof the modulation symbols transmitted for the corresponding data stream.RX data processor 260 then demodulates, deinterleaves, and decodes eachdetected symbol stream to recover the traffic data for the data stream.The processing by RX data processor 218 is complementary to thatperformed by TX processor 220 and TX data processor 214 at transmittersystem 210.

RX data processor 260 may be limited in the number of subcarriers thatit may simultaneously demodulate, e.g. 512 subcarriers or 5 MHz, andsuch a receiver should be scheduled on a single carrier. This limitationmay be a function of its FFT range, e.g. sample rates at which theprocessor 260 may operate, the memory available for FFT, or otherfunctions available for demodulation. Further, the greater the number ofsubcarriers utilized, the greater the expense of the access terminal.

The channel response estimate generated by RX processor 260 may be usedto perform space, space/time processing at the receiver, adjust powerlevels, change modulation rates or schemes, or other actions. RXprocessor 260 may further estimate the signal-to-noise-and-interferenceratios (SNRs) of the detected symbol streams, and possibly other channelcharacteristics, and provides these quantities to a processor 270. RXdata processor 260 or processor 270 may further derive an estimate ofthe “operating” SNR for the system. Processor 270 then provides channelstate information (CSI), which may comprise various types of informationregarding the communication link and/or the received data stream. Forexample, the CSI may comprise only the operating SNR. In other aspects,the CSI may comprise a channel quality indicator (CQI), which may be anumerical value indicative of one or more channel conditions. The CSI isthen processed by a TX data processor 278, modulated by a modulator 280,conditioned by transmitters 254 a through 254 r, and transmitted back totransmitter system 210.

At transmitter system 210, the modulated signals from receiver system250 are received by antennas 224, conditioned by receivers 222,demodulated by a demodulator 240, and processed by a RX data processor242 to recover the CSI reported by the receiver system. The reported CSIis then provided to processor 230 and used to (1) determine the datarates and coding and modulation schemes to be used for the data streamsand (2) generate various controls for TX data processor 214 and TXprocessor 220. Alternatively, the CSI may be utilized by processor 270to determine modulation schemes and/or coding rates for transmission,along with other information. This may then be provided to thetransmitter which uses this information, which may be quantized, toprovide later transmissions to the receiver.

Processors 230 and 270 direct the operation at the transmitter andreceiver systems, respectively. Memories 232 and 272 provide storage forprogram codes and data used by processors 230 and 270, respectively.

At the receiver, various processing techniques may be used to processthe N_(R) received signals to detect the N_(T) transmitted symbolstreams. These receiver processing techniques may be grouped into twoprimary categories (i) spatial and space-time receiver processingtechniques (which are also referred to as equalization techniques); and(ii) “successive nulling/equalization and interference cancellation”receiver processing technique (which is also referred to as “successiveinterference cancellation” or “successive cancellation” receiverprocessing technique).

While FIG. 2 discusses a MIMO system, the same system may be applied toa multi-input single-output system where multiple transmit antennas,e.g. those on a base station, transmit one or more symbol streams to asingle antenna device, e.g. a mobile station. Also, a single output tosingle input antenna system may be utilized in the same manner asdescribed with respect to FIG. 2.

The transmission techniques described herein may be implemented byvarious means. For example, these techniques may be implemented inhardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof. For a hardwareimplementation, the processing units at a transmitter may be implementedwithin one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs),digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices(DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gatearrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, micro-controllers,microprocessors, electronic devices, other electronic units designed toperform the functions described herein, or a combination thereof. Theprocessing units at a receiver may also be implemented within one ormore ASICs, DSPs, processors, and so on.

For a software implementation, the transmission techniques may beimplemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) thatperform the functions described herein. The software codes may be storedin a memory (e.g., memory 230, 272 x or 272 y in FIG. 2) and executed bya processor (e.g., processor 232, 270 x or 270 y). The memory may beimplemented within the processor or external to the processor.

It should be noted that the concept of channels herein refers toinformation or transmission types that may be transmitted by the accesspoint or access terminal. It does not require or utilize fixed orpredetermined blocks of subcarriers, time periods, or other resourcesdedicated to such transmissions.

Referring to FIGS. 3A and 3B, aspects of superframe structures for amultiple access wireless communication system are illustrated. FIG. 3Aillustrates aspects of superframe structures for a frequency divisionduplexed (FDD) multiple access wireless communication system, while FIG.3B illustrates aspects of superframe structures for a time divisionduplexed (TDD) multiple access wireless communication system. Thesuperframe preamble may be transmitted separately for each carrier ormay span all of the carriers of the sector.

In both FIGS. 3A and 3B, the forward link transmission is divided intounits of superframes. A superframe may consist of a superframe preamblefollowed by a series of frames. In an FDD system, the reverse link andthe forward link transmission may occupy different frequency bandwidthsso that transmissions on the links do not, or for the most part do not,overlap on any frequency subcarriers. In a TDD system, N forward linkframes and M reverse link frames define the number of sequential forwardlink and reverse link frames that may be continuously transmitted priorto allowing transmission of the opposite type of frame. It should benoted that the number of N and M may be vary within a given superframeor between superframes.

In both FDD and TDD systems each superframe may comprise a superframepreamble. In certain aspects, the superframe preamble includes a pilotchannel that includes pilots that may be used for channel estimation byaccess terminals, a broadcast channel that includes configurationinformation that the access terminal may utilize to demodulate theinformation contained in the forward link frame. Further acquisitioninformation such as timing and other information sufficient for anaccess terminal to communicate on one of the carriers and basic powercontrol or offset information may also be included in the superframepreamble. In other cases, only some of the above and/or otherinformation may be included in this superframe preamble.

As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the superframe preamble is followed by asequence of frames. Each frame may consist of a same or a differentnumber of OFDM symbols, which may constitute a number of subcarriersthat may simultaneously utilized for transmission over some definedperiod. Further, each frame may operate according to a symbol ratehopping mode, where one or more non-contiguous OFDM symbols are assignedto a user on a forward link or reverse link, or a block hopping mode,where users hop within a block of OFDM symbols. The actual blocks orOFDM symbols may or may not hop between frames.

The access terminal and access network determine the modes of operation.The duplexing mode may be determined to FDD or TDD. The synchronizationmode may be determined to be Semi-synchronous or Asynchronous. The multicarrier mode may be determined as MultiCarrierOn or MultiCarrierOff.Accordingly, various combinations of operation modes may result.

FIG. 4 illustrates communication between an access network 404 fortransmitting a timing correction message to correct the reverse linktiming of the access terminal 402. Using a communication link 406 andbased upon predetermined timing, system conditions, or other decisioncriteria, the access network 404 transmits the timing correction message410 over a communication link 406 to the access terminal 402. Thecommunication link may be implemented using communicationprotocols/standards such as World Interoperability for Microwave Access(WiMAX), infrared protocols such as Infrared Data Association (IrDA),short-range wireless protocols/technologies, Bluetooth® technology,ZigBee® protocol, ultra wide band (IUVB) protocol, home radio frequency(HomeRF), shared wireless access protocol (SWAP), wideband technologysuch as a wireless Ethernet compatibility alliance (WECA), wirelessfidelity alliance (Wi-Fi Alliance), 802.11 network technology, publicswitched telephone network technology, public heterogeneouscommunications network technology such as the Internet, private wirelesscommunications network, land mobile radio network, code divisionmultiple access (CDMA), wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA),universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), advanced mobile phoneservice (AMPS), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency divisionmultiple access (FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple (OFDM),orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), orthogonalfrequency division multiple FLASH (OFDM-FLASH), global system for mobilecommunications (GSM), single carrier (1×) radio transmission technology(RTT), evolution data only (EV-DO) technology, general packet radioservice (GPRS), enhanced data GSM environment (EDGE), high speeddownlink data packet access (HSPDA), analog and digital satellitesystems, and any other technologies/protocols that may be used in atleast one of a wireless communications network and a data communicationsnetwork.

The access network 404 is configured to generate the timing correctionmessage 410 comprising a 8-bit MessageID field and a 2-bit NumSectorsfield wherein, the NumSectors field indicates the number of sectorrecords in the message and the message is then transmitted over acommunication link 406. The access network 404 may incorporate thetiming correction message 410 into a data packet 412 or multiple datapackets. The data packets 412 are transmitted on a communication link406. In another aspect, the timing correction message 410 may betransmitted without being incorporated into packets. The data packetscomprise header information that indicates whether those data packets412 contain the timing correction message 410. The data packets 412 aretransmitted on the link 406 using one or more channels.

The access terminal 402 is configured to receive data packets on thecommunication link 406, one of which may comprise the timing correctionmessage 410. Various methods may be used to extract the timingcorrection message 410 from the link. For example, once the accessterminal 402 has extracted the data packets 412 from one of the channelsof the link the access terminal 402, the access terminal 402 may checkthe header information of the data packets 412 to determine if the datapackets 412 comprise the timing correction message 410. If so, then theaccess terminal 402 extracts the designated bits of the message andstores the values in memory (such as memory 272 in FIG. 2).

FIG. 5A illustrates a flow diagram of process 500, according to anembodiment. At 502, the timing correction message (such as timingcorrection message 410 in FIG. 4) is generated which comprises a 8-bitMessageID field and a 2-bit NumSectors field wherein, the NumSectorsfield indicates the number of sector records in the message and a 16 bitTimingCorrection field wherein, the TimingCorrection indicates thetiming correction on the sector and last 15 bits indicate the magnitudeof timing correction in units of ⅛ chips. At 504, the timing correctionmessage 410 is transmitted over a communication link.

FIG. 5B illustrates a processor 550 for transmitting the timingcorrection message (such as timing correction message 410 in FIG. 4).The processor referred to may be electronic devices and may comprise oneor more processors configured to transmit the timing correction message410. Processor 552 is configured to generate the timing correctionmessage 410 comprising a 8-bit MessageID field and a 2-bit NumSectorsfield wherein, the NumSectors field indicates the number of sectorrecords in the message and a 16 bit TimingCorrection field wherein, theTimingCorrection indicates the timing correction on the sector and last15 bits indicate the magnitude of timing correction in units of ⅛ chips.Further, processor 554 is configured for transmitting the timingcorrection 410 message over a communication link.

In an aspect, an apparatus is described which comprises means forgenerating the timing correction message comprising a 8-bit MessageIDfield and a 2-bit NumSectors field wherein, the NumSectors fieldindicates the number of sector records in the message and a 16 bitTimingCorrection field wherein, the TimingCorrection indicates thetiming correction on the sector and last 15 bits indicate the magnitudeof timing correction in units of ⅛ chips. The apparatus furthercomprises a means for transmitting the timing correction message over acommunication link. The means described herein may comprise one or moreprocessors.

FIG. 6A illustrates a flow diagram of process 600, according to anotheraspect. At 602, the timing correction message (such as timing correctionmessage 410 in FIG. 4) is received which comprises a 8-bit MessageIDfield and a 2-bit NumSectors field wherein, the NumSectors fieldindicates the number of sector records in the message and a 16 bitTimingCorrection field wherein, the TimingCorrection indicates thetiming correction on the sector and last 15 bits indicate the magnitudeof timing correction in units of ⅛ chips. At 604, the timing correctionmessage 410 is processed.

FIG. 6B illustrates processor 650 for receiving the timing correctionmessage (such as timing correction message 410 in FIG. 4). The processorreferred to may be electronic devices and may comprise one or moreprocessors configured to receive the timing correction 410 according tothe embodiment. Processor 652 is configured to receive the timingcorrection message 410 comprising a 8-bit MessageID field and a 2-bitNumSectors field wherein, the NumSectors field indicates the number ofsector records in the message and a 16 bit TimingCorrection fieldwherein, the TimingCorrection indicates the timing correction on thesector and last 15 bits indicate the magnitude of timing correction inunits of ⅛ chips. Further, processor 654 is configured to process thetiming correction message 410.

In an aspect, an apparatus is described which comprises means forreceiving the timing correction message comprising a 8-bit MessageIDfield and a 2-bit NumSectors field wherein, the NumSectors fieldindicates the number of sector records in the message and a 16 bitTimingCorrection field wherein, the TimingCorrection indicates thetiming correction on the sector and last 15 bits indicate the magnitudeof timing correction in units of ⅛ chips. The apparatus furthercomprises a means for processing the timing correction message. Themeans described herein may comprise one or more processors.

Furthermore, embodiments may be implemented by hardware, software,firmware, middleware, microcode, or any combination thereof. Whenimplemented in software, firmware, middleware or microcode, the programcode or code segments to perform the necessary tasks may be stored in amachine readable medium such as a separate storage(s) not shown. Aprocessor may perform the necessary tasks. A code segment may representa procedure, a function, a subprogram, a program, a routine, asubroutine, a module, a software package, a class, or any combination ofinstructions, data structures, or program statements. A code segment maybe coupled to another code segment or a hardware circuit by passingand/or receiving information, data, arguments, parameters, or memorycontents. Information, arguments, parameters, data, etc. may be passed,forwarded, or transmitted via any suitable means including memorysharing, message passing, token passing, network transmission, etc.

Furthermore, embodiments may be implemented by hardware, software,firmware, middleware, microcode, or any combination thereof. Whenimplemented in software, firmware, middleware or microcode, the programcode or code segments to perform the necessary tasks may be stored in amachine readable medium such as a separate storage(s) not shown. Aprocessor may perform the necessary tasks. A code segment may representa procedure, a function, a subprogram, a program, a routine, asubroutine, a module, a software package, a class, or any combination ofinstructions, data structures, or program statements. A code segment maybe coupled to another code segment or a hardware circuit by passingand/or receiving information, data, arguments, parameters, or memorycontents. Information, arguments, parameters, data, etc. may be passed,forwarded, or transmitted via any suitable means including memorysharing, message passing, token passing, network transmission, etc.

Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to thoseskilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may beapplied to other aspects. Thus, the description is not intended to belimited to the aspects shown herein but is to be accorded the widestscope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosedherein.

1. A method for transmitting a timing correction message in a wirelesscommunication system, the method characterized in that: generating thetiming correction message comprising a 8-bit MessageID field and a 2-bitNumSectors field wherein, the NumSectors field indicates the number ofsector records in the message and a 16 bit TimingCorrection fieldwherein, the TimingCorrection indicates the timing correction on thesector and last 15 bits indicate the magnitude of timing correction inunits of ⅛ chips; and transmitting the timing correction message over acommunication link.
 2. The method as claimed in claim 2, characterizedin that, setting the first bit of the TimingCorrection field to ‘0’ fortiming advance command and to ‘1’ for timing retard command.
 3. Acomputer-readable medium including instructions stored thereon,characterized in that: a set of instructions for generating the timingcorrection message comprising a 8-bit MessageID field and a 2-bitNumSectors field wherein, the NumSectors field indicates the number ofsector records in the message and a 16 bit TimingCorrection fieldwherein, the TimingCorrection indicates the timing correction on thesector and last 15 bits indicate the magnitude of timing correction inunits of ⅛ chips; and a set of instructions for transmitting the timingcorrection message over a communication link.
 4. An apparatus operablein a wireless communication system, characterized in that: means forgenerating the timing correction message comprising a 8-bit MessageIDfield and a 2-bit NumSectors field wherein, the NumSectors fieldindicates the number of sector records in the message and a 16 bitTimingCorrection field wherein, the TimingCorrection indicates thetiming correction on the sector and last 15 bits indicate the magnitudeof timing correction in units of ⅛ chips; and means for transmitting thetiming correction message over a communication link.
 5. The apparatus asclaimed in claim 4, characterized in that means for setting the firstbit of the TimingCorrection field to ‘0’ for timing advance command andto ‘1’ for timing retard command.
 6. A method for receiving a timingcorrection message in a wireless communication system, the methodcomprising: receiving the timing correction message comprising a 8-bitMessageID field and a 2-bit NumSectors field wherein, the NumSectorsfield indicates the number of sector records in the message and a 16 bitTimingCorrection field wherein, the TimingCorrection indicates thetiming correction on the sector and last 15 bits indicate the magnitudeof timing correction in units of ⅛ chips; processing the timingcorrection message.
 7. The method as claimed in claim 6, furthercomprising interpreting the first bit of the TimingCorrection field astiming advance command when ‘0’ and as timing retard command when ‘1’.8. A computer-readable medium including instructions stored thereon,comprising: a set of instructions for receiving a timing correctionmessage comprising a 8-bit MessageID field and a 2-bit NumSectors fieldwherein, the NumSectors field indicates the number of sector records inthe message and a 16 bit TimingCorrection field wherein, theTimingCorrection indicates the timing correction on the sector and last15 bits indicate the magnitude of timing correction in units of ⅛ chips;and a set of instructions for processing the TokenAssigmment message. 9.An apparatus operable in a wireless communication system, comprising:means for receiving a timing correction message comprising a 8-bitMessageID field and a 2-bit NumSectors field wherein, the NumSectorsfield indicates the number of sector records in the message and a 16 bitTimingCorrection field wherein, the TimingCorrection indicates thetiming correction on the sector and last 15 bits indicate the magnitudeof timing correction in units of ⅛ chips; and means for processing thetiming correction message.
 9. The apparatus as claimed in claim 9,further comprising means for interpreting the first bit of theTimingCorrection field as timing advance command when ‘0’ and as timingretard command when ‘1’.